The Interview
by Felicity Dream
Summary: Bolin didn't really think it would be hard. But Tarrlok and Korra are surprisingly intimidating together and he's sure he's signing over his soul. And all he wanted was to try out for the Task Force… Includes crack hints of Borra, Korrlok, and slight Makkora. Features Lieutenant!Korra, Recruit!Bolin, Snarky!Tarrlok, and Task Force bro-ship.


Disclaimer: Nope, just a fanfiction writer. I would be richer, if I did.  
Story: Bolin didn't think it would be hard. But Tarrlok and Korra are surprisingly intimidating together and he's sure he's signing over his soul. And all he wanted was to try out for the Task Force…  
Set after episode 1x07 "The Aftermath".  
Spoilers: Up to 1x07.  
Warnings: Just in case…Cursing and violence for now…hm, just in case since I'm usually writing it, bit of crazy humor, perverted humor, morbid or sarcastic humor, and maybe some sexual situations…  
Pairings: More humor than anything, but includes fanservice of Korrlok, Borra, and some Makkorra.

**The Interview**  
_In which Bolin gets more than he bargains for, trying to get into the Task Force ~_

"Name."

"Korra, you know my name –"

"Lieutenant," the older guy –Tarrlok, Bolin thought he was (wasn't he the guy sending all those expensive gifts to Korra?) –interjected, just as stony faced as his deputy.

"L-Lieutenant," Bolin swallowed nervously, glancing between the two.

"Name," Korra repeated, voice slightly more insistent.

"Bolin," he said immediately, voice automatically taking a professional tone as he straightened up like an arrow.

Tarrlok looked at the resumé Bolin had impatiently rushed to fill out at the foyer.

"It says here you're a former pro-bender, currently an 'awesome' earthbender, and 16 years old. Correct?"

"Yes, sir!" Bolin started to sweat bullets.

Tarrlok nodded in approval. "Seems obedient –good," he muttered to Korra, as though Bolin couldn't hear him.

This was an _interview_. Why was Bolin feeling like he was signing his soul over to them? All he wanted was to join the Task Force! And yet, these basic questions and introduction start to the interview was making him feel like he was entering Hell and he was facing the Devil's Advocates. It was completely unreasonable.

And he'd expected this Tarrlok guy to be strict, but he hadn't expected Korra to be too. She was pretending like she didn't even know him!

It was the beginning, with a simple start and simple questions –and yet already he felt like they were grilling him.

"Okay, let's start on the real questions," Korra _wrote_ something on her clipboard.

What did she _write_?

"Why did you want to be a Task Force Officer?" Tarrlok asked first.

Bolin choked and then realized _this was where his fate started _and he couldn't _choke_ now.

"I want to contribute to the fight, Captain Tarrlok," he used the formal address he heard one of the officers use. That should earn him some points, right? _Right_? "Pro-bending is gone and it was my livelihood. I know you may not care for the sport, sir, but it wasn't just a sport to me and my brother. It was what helped support us and gave us a direction in life, as two orphans with a lack of living quarters and which the sport had managed to also give us. For a time at least."

"Is revenge a factor in your desire to join then?" Korra surprisingly asked that.

Bolin blinked. "N-no. What happened to Pro-bending is just a motivational factor in bringing these guys down. And this whole thing with the Equalists is going down, you know? And it's going down quick –so I don't want to just sit around and not do anything, when things are getting serious and people could be hurt because of all this. And Korra is really involved and I want to help her and be a good support and make sure she's safe because she's really, really important to me and she's like the calm lake in my meadow, the sun in my sky, the tree on my ground –" he cut himself off abruptly, realizing he was starting to ramble and say things he really shouldn't be saying in an interview. Or at all. Especially in front of Korra.

Oh man…

But Tarrlok simply nodded. "Flowery, but I appreciate your enthusiasm."

Korra just gave a slight cough and looked away, face red.

"I understand you live at Air Temple Island. Would that detriment you from coming here when on-call or emergencies? Are you available to work on what shift?" Korra returned to questioning, rapid-firing the questions to him.

"Uh, no, I don't think so," his eyes widened, mouth almost moving to gape. "I'm pretty sure I'm available on all shifts?" And what did she mean _'I understand you live at Air Temple Island'_? She lived there too!

"Is that a question or an answer, soldier?" Tarrlok asked sharply.

"Answer, sir!" Bolin almost began to do a salute before forcefully putting his hand down.

"Do you have any experience in fighting?" the older man continued.

"Um, just the Pro-bending, sir. But it's been really helpful! The style is different and allows for less, uh, predictability. And um, earthbending fighting is usually rigid and unyie –uh –"

"Unyielding?" Tarrlok supplied helpfully.

"Y-yeah, unyielding," Holy Spirits, his hands were starting to get sweaty… "Um…so, that's how usual earthbending style is. But with Pro-bending, I've learned to be lighter on my feet and can dodge and evade better because of it, as well as be quicker."

Ew, gross. His hands were definitely sweaty now.

"And I've also fought and faced against the Equalists several times now, as well as been face to face with Amon, specifically in the Revelation thingy. Event, I mean."

"_Right_. You're the one who idiotically got involved with the Triads and then got dragged into that rally –ouch!" Tarrlok frowned, though Bolin thought it looked more like he wanted to pout, when Korra elbowed him.

She gave the founder of the squad a look and then mouthed 'Play nice.' Bolin refrained from snickering, as it would probably cost him a spot on the team and Tarrlok would most likely give him hell, on the squad or not.

But still –_whipped_. No, no –_water_ whipped.

Bolin allowed himself to snicker inside his head, taking care not to start grinning on the outside.

Then they started to _really_ grill him and Bolin wished they'd stayed to questioning like in the beginning. Now feeling psychologically tortured, he followed after them as they led him to the training grounds.

"Now for the physical part," Tarrlok explained. "Korra mainly trains the men, so you'll be joining them today and we can see if you can keep up, or willing to be brought up to speed."

"Shouldn't you be the one training everyone, with you being older and more experienced?" Bolin chanced the question.

"I supervise," he explained as Korra went up ahead. "She actually volunteered for it. Good luck."

Bolin shrugged and went to catch up with Korra, eager to actually do something active and show he could actually do something and had something to contribute to the team.

Again, he thought Tarrlok was strict –and the man _really_ was –but he hadn't expected Korra to be too. He now knew what the 'good luck' was for.

In fact, if Tarrlok was a disciplinarian, Korra was a _sadist_. And he suspected some of the men on the squad to secretly be masochists, with the way they kept saying things like "Yes, Lieutenant! More, please!", "We can do it, ma'am! Please train us more!", or his personal favorite –"We love it! Faster, harder, Lieutenant Korra!"

Did he mention that a few of them were crying and collapsing all over the place? He had no idea if those were happy tears or tears of pain…or both. He wasn't even going to think about Korra cackling behind the group and cracking a water whip above their heads.

Bolin personally thought he was going to die.

"How are you doing, recruit?" Tarrlok suddenly appeared by his side, when he couldn't take it and had stopped and was leaning on his knees heavily, panting.

"Like I'm going to die," he gasped out.

Tarrlok patted his back gently. "I tell Korra not to kill them. She seems to think some tough love every now and then is going to make sure they're in tip top shape and ready for anything."

"Are…all those…men insane?" Bolin licked his lips, trying to hydrate them.

Spirits, he was thirsty, his body was aching, and…did his stomach just growl?

"Maybe," Tarrlok shrugged uncharacteristically. "Most of them actually mean it, some just say it to placate Korra and hope it'll help fluff her enough to lighten up on them, and then there are those who couldn't take the training at first and then grew to love it."

"I'm still going to die."

Tarrlok patted his back again. "Chin up, boy. Korra's only started and if she sees you slacking now, she'll make it worse on you. And don't forget to wake up early tomorrow with her to head down here for early practice, as part two of your physical try out."

Bolin only groaned, straightening up and going back to the exercise, lest Korra did catch him and started in on him.

Soon, lunch was upon them and Bolin collapsed backwards onto the ground, gasping for breath that couldn't come faster.

"Did you kill him?"

"No. Should've tried harder."

"Shut up," Bolin grumbled, peeking one eye open to see Korra and Tarrlok leaning over him and thankfully blocking the sun.

He squinted, catching the matching chocolate skin of the Water Tribe duo, their long dark hair mixing together as they leaned over him, and their similar light eyes.

Dazed and disoriented, Bolin blurted out something he wished he hadn't of later.

"You two look pretty. You two look pretty _together_," then he smiled goofily before blacking out.

The two blinked before looking at each other with red faces, though Tarrlok took care to be as dignified as he could. Then they bent down and took an arm each, hauling Bolin up and tossing it over their shoulders, starting their way back inside. With the height difference, it was awkward at first, before Korra cheated and used earthbending to increase her height, making each step she took higher with the earth rising up and making her taller and at level with Tarrlok.

"Hey, Tarrlok –he said you were _pretty_," Korra teased him on his looks and habits.

"Shut up, _'lake in my meadow.'_"

She did but she didn't stop grinning at him.

The cooled air inside the building was what woke Bolin up, and he was so thankful for the blessed cold air that he nearly started weeping. And there was _water_ right in front of him. He snatched it up and began gulping it down.

"Lunch just started," Korra informed him, and he looked around to see he was in a large mess hall with a decent amount of tables filled up, due to the small number of the Task Force. "We're the number of a military unit of a squad, which numbers to 8-13 members. We usually split members into fireteams, which are composed of 4 members. Squads are led by a squad leader –Tarrlok. We're using a certain type of military ranking, so he's referred to as Captain Tarrlok while I'm First Lieutenant, though referral of just Lieutenant is the usual."

Bolin nodded rapidly to show he was listening intently.

"Everyone else is a corporal or a private. If we get significantly bigger, we might need to upgrade the ranking, so that Tarrlok is Colonel, I'm Lieutenant Colonel, and then we'll have room to take on other senior officers to help lead small teams."

Bolin's mind was whirling, wondering how did Korra know all this military stuff.

"Korra, are you informing him of the structure of the squad?" Tarrlok walked over, holding a bag of something Bolin couldn't instantly recognized, though the smell was familiar.

"Yep. Newbie crash course," Korra turned to him.

Tarrlok plopped the bag next to Korra and sat next to her, when she sat down more comfortably on the bench. The two were across from Bolin, who eyed the bag eagerly, smelling something he knew he knew and really liked. Mmmm, so yummy…

"Korra!"

Bolin heard his brother's voice and the three of them turned to see Mako jogging slightly towards them, also holding a bag. And ironically, Bolin had just been musing on the familiar way Tarrlok kept addressing Korra and vice versa, titles notwithstanding.

"I brought over some lunch for you," Mako grinned slightly, holding up the bag.

Bolin saw Tarrlok scowl just as he started mentally pouting at his brother.

Korra grinned back, a slight tint of red to her cheeks. "Great! What is it?"

"Sea prune soup! I thought you might like some Water Tribe cuisine," Mako handed it over.

Her grin faltered. "A-awesome! Thanks, Mako!"

"I got to go. I'm about to clock in at work in half an hour and the factory's 15 minutes away," the firebender grinned slightly one more time before giving a small wave and jogging away.

Bolin poked her shoulder. "You look like you're about to be sick."

"…Aang's detest, as well as previous Avatars' tastes, for sea prune and ocean kumquats have definitely passed on to me. I can stomach sea prunes better than Aang and like it occasionally…but the stew is…something else," Korra twitched and eyed the bag warily.

Tarrlok snorted, which had Bolin staring at him in surprise, and pushed his own bag towards Korra.

"Swap? I have seaweed noodles and a packet of seal jerky," Tarrlok said, already grabbing the sea prune stew without waiting for her answer. "And from what you told me, your friend likes those same noodles, right? I have a container for you too," he told Bolin, who was already drooling and had his hands inching towards the correct bag.

"Meh, sea prune stew is Northern anyways," she jokingly mocked him. "And it's an acquired taste. I should've known you would."

Soup container already opened and Tarrlok having grabbed a sea prune, he plopped it into his mouth, immediately grimacing.

"Actually, no. I hate it."

Korra and Bolin stared at him. Bolin grabbed the soup container at the same time as Korra sighed and opened her seaweed noodle container, and curled some around her fork, lifting it up to Tarrlok's lips.

"Anyone like sea prune stew?" Bolin hollered out.

"I'll take it!" one of the younger recruits answered.

Lunch passed by in that strange manner.

Bolin looked around and grinned, and then remembered Korra and Tarrlok's easy swap of food and then sharing of it. Such bro-time…

"I want to be part of the family!" Bolin had stars in his eyes.

"I worry about the friends you keep, Korra," Tarrlok muttered.

Korra simply yanked on one of his ponytails, out of Bolin's sight.

Bolin just happily slurped up the last of his noodles. This was great, even with Korra torturing them all and Tarrlok being something of a strict and usually irritated high school teacher. In fact, if he had to share Korra with anyone, it probably wouldn't be so bad if it was Tarrlok –it would be soooo less _weird_ than if it was his brother. Less drama and family issues.

That meant he definitely had to get onto the squad no matter what! And that Second Lieutenant spot was opened, he heard…

Started 5/30/12 –Completed 5/31/12

A/n: So, I was going for cracky but good ol' plain humor is good. The FMA Amestris military ranking is what they're using and part of my headcanon, and of course Korra would want to be Lieutenant as opposed to Amon's Lieutenant (except she'd be smug that it's an actual rank/title). This is a one-shot, but I might put more up later on in time if I feel like it.

Hoped everyone enjoyed and review and favorite if you did!


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